Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Takes $255,000 Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 451 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,786,000 after purchasing an additional 35,277 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 13,659.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,759,000 after purchasing an additional 10,108 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $220,971,000 after purchasing an additional 12,495 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $464.81 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $545.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $538.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 111.33%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.14 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $530.00 to $425.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $562.87.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.